Now that Fifty Shades of Grey is coming to the big screen for Valentine’s Day 2015, the sexy story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele is about to be experienced by more people than E.L. James probably ever imagined. What started out as erotic Twilight fan fiction on a message board will soon dominate the domestic box office the same way that Grey dominates Steele, and what most inquiring and sexually-charged minds would like to know is how this series of books and next year’s film are influencing readers to give BDSM (bondage, submission, dominance, sadomasochism and more!) a whirl for real.
Fortunately, the fine folks at Vivid Entertainment and X Critic teamed up to ask people with a fondness for BDSM just how much Fifty Shades has been influencing them or the people around them. While the books aren’t exactly making women sprint to the hardware store (at least as much as they once were), there is at least a mild new interest in whips and chains, among other devices.
The survey results showed that the book had spurred curiosity to try BDSM in just 20 percent of its respondents while 36 percent had already tried it, but 44 percent had no curiosity about it. And just 24 percent know people that have tried BDSM while 76 percent know no one who has tried it as a result of the publicity surrounding the book that is scheduled to debut as a movie in February 2015.
Of those respondents to the survey who had tried BDSM, 46 percent had tried bondage, 39 percent tried master/slave role playing and 21 percent tried flogging. And of those who say they might try it, 40 percent would want to be dominant partner while 23 percent would want to be submissive and 37 percent would want to switch back and forth between those roles.
Nearly 48 percent of those surveyed said they had not suggested BDSM to their partner, while 21 percent were either curious or even enthusiastic about it, and just 10 percent said they “hate the idea.” (Via Vivid Entertainment)
Flogging could be the most wonderful thing in the world, but that word is just so darn goofy that it’s impossible to take seriously. Regardless, it sure doesn’t seem like Fifty Shades of Grey is having much of an influence over how kinky people are getting behind closed penthouse doors, but at least the people surveyed are optimistic about where the “hobby” is going.
75% of you feel that Fifty Shades of Grey will make coeds interested in trying BDSM.
Only 24% of you know anyone who has experimented with BDSM after reading Fifty Shades of Grey
59% of you won’t try BDSM if your partner isn’t into it, but 41% of you would consider trying BDSM with someone else, who isn’t your partner.
Finally, 68% of you think Fifty Shades of Grey has made BDSM more mainstream/acceptable. (Via XCritic, which is very NSFW)
They say that acceptance is the first step, and everything after that is nipple clamps and safe words. Happy spanking!